TRADE SECRETS

Poll: U.S. military community hates Bergdahl swap

Drew Zahn covers movies for WND as a contributing writer. A former pastor, he is the editor of seven books, including Movie-Based Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching, which sparked his ongoing love affair with film and his weekly WND column, "Popcorn and a (world)view." Drew currently serves as communications director for The Family Leader.

In an ABC interview June 5, Hillary Clinton parroted White House talking points in defending President Obama’s exchange of five Taliban prisoners for U.S. solider Bowe Bergdahl, appealing to the principle of “no man left behind.”

“One of our values is we bring everybody home off the battlefield the best we can,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how they ended up in a prisoner-of-war situation.”

An online poll at ArmyTimes.com, however, reveals the publication’s largely military audience disagrees that trading away terrorist prisoners likely to resume attacks on the U.S. is the right way to “bring everybody home.”

“Intense debate has erupted over whether retrieving Bowe Bergdahl was worth the trade of five captured Taliban commanders,” the poll posits. “What do you think?”

The first available answer reflects Clinton’s argument: “Yes, getting a U.S. military POW out of enemy hands was worth the price.”

But as of this report, that answer was being beaten, more than two-to-one, by the response, “No, the Taliban got the much better end of this deal.”

The Army Times, published by Gannett Government Media, is a weekly newspaper serving active, Reserve, National Guard and retired U.S. military personnel and their families.

“Soldiers and their families rely on the print edition of Army Times and ArmyTimes.com as trusted, independent sources for news and information on the most important issues affecting their careers and personal lives,” the publication asserts on its website. “Each week, Army Times provides quality, unbiased reporting on the important issues for the military community.”

The Army Times poll reveals the military community even more strident in its opposition to the swap than the general public, though both groups overwhelmingly oppose the deal.

A Rasmussen Reports poll of likely voters, released June 12, found 54 percent disagree with the swap of Taliban prisoners for Bergdahl, while just 29 percent agree with the White House’s decision.

Rasmussen reports furthermore that congressional leaders from both parties have complained about the administration’s failure to consult them before making the prisoner exchange, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has now admitted that was a mistake.